Believe me, we can win the series

I was captain of the side that won at Port of Spain against the West Indies in 1971. Theirs’ was replete with superstars in the form of Sobers, Kanhai, Lloyd, Fredericks, Kalicharran, Holder and others. On the other hand, our team was being called the worst-ever to have left the Indian shores. But little did anyone know that a pint-sized dynamo called Sunil Gavaksar was going to rule the series…. And we were going to pull off a historic win.

The same year, we also won in England; a country that evidently still had the hangover of having ruled our country for so many years, and had a superiority complex because of it. The Poms were also the favourites, because despite our victory in the Caribbean, they had just won the Ashes and were led by that extremely shrewd man — Ray Illingworth.

But we won. Not just the third Test at the Oval, but also the series. The lions conquered in their own lair!

My involvement for the fourth first Test win for India came in 1993 when I toured Sri Lanka; not as player, not as captain, but as manager. We won that match with a stunning margin of 236 runs, with Vinod Kambli, Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sachin Tendulkar getting centuries and Anil Kumble getting his usual quota of five wickets in the first innings.

Anyway, from the point of view of one who was part of so many winning combinations — both matches and series, as in each occasion — I guess I have the authority to say that India have a great chance of winning this Test series against Pakistan in Pakistan for the first time in the history of cricket. As it is the Pakistan team is completely demoralised after the reversals in the ODI series first and then the Multan Test. The only thing to guard against is complacency, because if we stick to our plan and keep up the tempo, I am sure we will grab this golden opportunity.